Not so long ago, the Golden State Warriors weren’t exactly championship contenders. They were a borderline playoff team that could put together a nice run and get out in the second round, and no one ever saw them becoming the dynasty they were.
Well, no one except for Tiger Woods. Apparently, the greatest golfer of all time always knew that Stephen Curry and his teammates were special, and wanted them to prove it long before they made it to 5 straight NBA Finals.
Apparently, he reached out to Steph – who’s a huge golf fan and great players as well – to motivate him during their second-round series vs. the Memphis Grizzlies. He called them and, according to Steph, ‘lit their fire under him’ to get the job done:
“We’ve talked a couple times. He actually called me out of the blue back in 2015 during our playoff run—in the second round against [the] Memphis [Grizzlies]. We were down [two games to one] and my PR director for the Warriors said, ‘Hey if this Florida number calls, you might want to answer it.’ I was like, ‘All right,” Steph said on the Huddle&Flow podcast.
“[Tiger] called me about an hour later and it was the biggest pep talk of all time—just out of the blue. He spoke some life into our comeback during that round. I said, ‘I’m ready for it. I know we’re gonna get it done.’ And he dropped the mic at the end of the call, he was like, ‘Prove it,’ and then just hung up. It don’t get no better than that. He lit the fire under me for sure,” Curry said.
Regardless of if you’re a golf fan or not, this has to be the ultimate motivation. I mean, one of the greatest athletes of all time personally called you to tell you to finish the job. If that doesn’t drive you to be the best version of yourself, then no one will.
Luckily for Curry and the Warriors, that was just the little spark they needed, and the rest, as you may know by now, is history.
https://twitter.com/JimTrotter_NFL/status/1359248212238950400
